Usually when you see that familiar red card from Royal Mail on the doormat, it means your parcel is at a nearby office waiting to be picked up from you.

But one man had an altogether more amusing experience when he got home to find two cards on the mat explaining an unfortunate incident.

Sam Cooke shared three photographs on Twitter which tell the story of how things unfolded.

The first is an image of a Royal Mail card, on which a note is written explaining that the parcel was 'put through window'.

So far, so normal.

But the next photograph is another Royal Mail card with a more amusing note: "I'm really sorry I think your parcel might have fallen in the toilet accidentally."

Sure enough, the third photograph is Sam's bathroom - complete with an open window and a parcel in the toilet.

Have you ever had a bad delivery experience? Share it with us by e-mailing yourmirror@mirror.co.uk.

You can only imagine the horror of this particular postal worker when the parcel left their hand.

Luckily enough, Sam later revealed that the box - containing printer ink - was too wide to hit the water so it wasn't damaged.

Sam's tweet has had nearly 2,000 retweets from amused social media users.

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Even though Mr Cooke has confirmed there was no damage to the parcel, we’re very sorry for any inconvenience caused.

"Our staff are always reminded of the appropriate action to take if a customer is unavailable to accept a delivery.

"A card should have been posted through the door informing him that the parcel had been returned to the local delivery office and listing the various options available to retrieve it, or that the parcel had been left with a neighbour.”